Mother and Father
by PagetPaulson
Summary: The joy of parenthood.


Feeling the car come to a stop, the new mother let her eyes flutter open to see her husband pulling the keys from the car's ignition. Groaning, Emily sat herself up in the passenger seat and undid her seatbelt. "God," she sighed.

Hotch reached over and squeezed the brunette's hand. "Sore?"

"Incredibly."

He leaned over the gear shift and pressed a long kiss to his wife's lips, his hand cupping her warm cheek. "We'll get inside and you can lay down," he nodded. "The babies will be asleep for a little while longer."

Emily gave a tired smile as she got herself out of her seat. Opening the back door, the new mother laid eyes on her twins and grinned. "Hi babies," she whispered, taking her daughter's car seat out of the back. "Aren't you precious?"

"She can't hear you."

Emily's eyes flickered over to Jack and gave him a playful glare. "Of course she can. If I talk to her while she's asleep, then she'll dream about me."

Jack's jaw dropped. "Really?"

She heard her husband getting her son from his car seat as she bent down and showed the eight year old the little girl in her carrier. "Really. Say something," she encouraged, taking his hand and pulling him toward the newborn. "She'll hear you."

Jack leaned in over the carrier and poked the girl's cheek. "Hi Kylie," he whispered. "Goodnight!"

Emily gave the boy a grin as she stood straight, meeting the eyes of the older man holding her newborn son. "He looks just like you," she gushed in a whisper, letting him walk up to her and press a kiss to her lips.

"I beg to differ," he laughed. "Come on, let's get inside. Who knows when they'll want to feed."

The new mother made a face as she followed the older man to the front door of their home, her pace steady. She wasn't going to tear her stitches any time soon. "They better not want to feed soon. The skin on my nipples is going to start chaffing."

Jack looked up to his mother. "Huh?"

"Nothing," she grinned, running a hand over his head.

Opening the door, the Unit Chief barely had time to let his wife pass by him before a chorus of screams had the married couple jumping back.

"Surprise!"

Emily looked to her friend with wide eyes and let out a breath, her free hand going to her chest. "Jesus," she sighed, laughing when Garcia came running up to hug her. "What are you all doing here? How did you even get in?"

Garcia stepped back and pulled out her spare key. "Duh."

Walking into the home, Hotch watched his son run over to play with Henry before locking up the front door. "I thought we were going to wait a couple days on the welcome home party."

The new mother looked away from her friends and eyed her husband. "You were in on this?"

"Just a little."

Garcia almost smacked the brunette woman on the arm. "Give me the baby."

Emily received a few more hugs from the other friends there before leading the tech genius into her living room, setting her baby's carrier on the coffee table. "Look who's waking up," she cooed, unbuckling the three day old baby as her eyes peeled open. "Hi baby girl."

The blond felt JJ come up beside her as she grinned at the sight of the baby. "She's precious," the technical analyst almost squealed.

Emily smiled, pressing a long kiss to her daughter's small tuft of hair before settling her in Garcia's waiting arms.

"Em," JJ breathed, stroking the baby's plump cheek with the tip of her finger, "she looks just like you."

"I think she looks like Aaron."

"Mommy!"

Emily quickly made her way over to the sandy haired boy and looked to the newborn in his arms. "What's wrong?"

Jack grinned up to her. "Look!"

The brunette sat herself down beside her son on the couch and wrapped her arm around his tiny body, her eyes looking to her cooing baby in the eight year old's arms. "He loves his big brother," she smiled, kissing Jack's head.

"Love you Keegan," he said loudly, leaning down and kissing the baby's head just like his parents had.

Hotch took the beer from his friend as he watched his wife slowly move from person to person with their newborn son in her arms, showing him off to everyone who had come to surprise them. He couldn't help but smile. Three days after giving birth and this was the most beautiful he had ever seen his wife: tired but glowing. Completely stunning.

Rossi bumped his friend's elbow with his. "You can't have her for a few weeks, can you?"

The Unit Chief laughed. "Five weeks."

"Damn," the Italian chuckled, watching the new mother hold her son against her chest and rub his back. "And she has three months leave?"

Hotch gave an affirmative nod of the head. "I made sure of it." Of course he was her boss and was able to get her an extra month's leave, that was never going to be an issue, but getting Emily to stay at home without having an attack every day from not doing anything 'productive' was going to be the hard part. She knew he wanted her to stay home and take as long as she needed to fully recover and take the time to spend time with her new children, but Emily was one hell of a spitfire and would challenge him at any chance she could.

She was ballsy, and he loved it.

Walking over to the older man, Emily gave a smile. "Hi Dave."

"Cara," the Italian smiled, taking her by her cheeks and pressing a kiss to either one. "And look at him." Dave let out a deep chuckle as Emily laid the baby in his arms. "Principe," he grinned, the smell of the newborn baby floating through his nostrils. "Looks just like you, Aaron."

Hotch shared a look with his smirking wife and shook his head.

Hearing her daughter start to fuss from Garcia's arms a few feet away, Emily set a hand to her husband's arm. "I think she's ready for a feeding. Bring him up in a few minutes, ok?" The twins almost always cried one right after the other if they weren't spot on together for their fussing session.

"Of course." He watched his beautiful wife take their daughter and amble on up the stairs and away from the party, toward the newly furnished nursery they had gotten done just a week ago. They had painted it yellow, gender neutral for the twins because they hadn't wanted to know the sexes, and the room had two changing tables and two cribs for them once they were big enough to transition from their bassinets set up in the master bedroom. Everything was ready for them, but it was already turning out to be easier than expected.

Their twins were quiet little angels all through the night, and when they awoke they did nothing but find the simplest things interesting. And Jack was in love with them.

"Daddy!"

Hotch caught the eight year old as he ran into his arms, and he set the growing boy on his hip.

Jack grinned at his father. "Let's go play with Kylie!"

"Kylie is with mommy," the Unit Chief nodded. "She needs to have some food right now."

"Why?"

Hotch laughed. "Because she's hungry."

Jack gave a thoughtful look before his dark eyes widened, his hands slapping at his father's chest. "Daddy!"

"Yes?"

Giggling, the blond haired boy leaned into the new father of three. "Let's go scare mommy," he laughed, sharing a grin with the man holding him on his hip.

Hotch tickled the boy's sides before setting him on the ground. "You want to scare mommy?"

"It'll be fun!"

Hearing his son start to fuss in his friend's arms, Hotch quickly took him and pressed him squirming body against his chest. "Shh," he whispered, kissing his soft head. "Ok Jack, you go upstairs and we'll follow."

Jack was quick to sprint up the stairs, ready to surprise his mother, and Hotch was quick on his tail with a smile on his face.


End file.
